Planning for Your Pets
Sample Directives
As pet owners, we should consider what will happen to our pets if we become disabled and are not able to care for the pet or we pass away. Who will be responsible for the pet(s) or will make sure they go to a good home?
These issues can be addressed in multiple ways: through informal arrangements with friends and/or family members; by formal directives in either a pet guardian document and/or a Will; or by written guardian plan for placement to a new home with a local shelter.
- For a Will or Guardian Agreement.
- I hereby give and bequeath my pet dog “Fido” to my friend Pete Henrys to provide continued care and shelter for Fido.
- To give pet with financial gift for support and maintenance of the pet.
- I hereby give and bequeath my cat “Fluffy” to my friend Pete Henrys to provide continued care and shelter for Fluffy. I also give and bequeath the sum of $5,000 Pete Henrys to the fund the costs and expenses to care for and maintain Fluffy.
- I give and bequeath my dog “Fido” to the Roice-Hurst Humane Society to provide care and shelter for him pending the Humane Society being able to place him in an appropriate new and safe home.
- I give and bequeath my cat “Fluffy” to the Roice-Hurst Humane Society to provide care and shelter for him pending the shelter being able to place him in an appropriate new and safe home. I also give and bequeath the sum of $10,000 to the Roice-Hurst Humane Society for use in its on-going operations and programs to help animals.
- I give and bequeath the sum of $25,000 to the Roice-Hurst Humane Society, a Colorado Non-Profit entity, 362 28 Road, Grand Junction, Colorado, to help fund its programs to care for homeless pets.
- A person can also create a Pet Trust for the care and financial support of their pets. This can be done by including appropriate language in a person’s Will or the Trust can be created by separate document. [1] The Trust will leave a certain sum to a designated Trustee for purposes of care for and maintaining the pet during its life, for a maximum of 21 years.
[1] Authorized by Colorado Revised Statutes Sec. 15-11-901(2)